Roma team manager Morgan De Sanctis stood up for Nicolò Zaniolo and urged them not to use the injury crisis as an “alibi.”

The Europa League game with Borussia Monchengladbach kicks off at 17.55 UK time (16.55 GMT), click here for the line-ups and LIVEBLOG.

Gianluca Mancini seems to be moved into midfield in a 4-2-3-1 formation, but the Giallorossi are keeping their cards close to their chest.

Roma team manager Morgan De Sanctis stood up for Nicolò Zaniolo and urged them not to use the injury crisis as an “alibi.”

The Europa League game with Borussia Monchengladbach kicks off at 17.55 UK time (16.55 GMT), click here for the line-ups and LIVEBLOG.

Gianluca Mancini seems to be moved into midfield in a 4-2-3-1 formation, but the Giallorossi are keeping their cards close to their chest.

“We’ll see what happens…” smiled team manager De Sanctis on Sky Sport Italia.

“We don’t want to focus on the difficulties, as that would be like looking for alibis. It remains an ambitious project, we are a little behind in terms of results, but we knew it would take time to work together and we’ll take the season before evaluating the situation.”

Alessio Riccardi is on the bench today and could make an appearance during the injury crisis.

“Riccardi is probably the clearest talent in the Roma academy. He has been under the spotlight for a while already, but remains 18 years of age and we are monitoring him carefully. The club and coach Paulo Fonseca consider him highly and he is moving gradually into the first team.”

Fabio Capello caused controversy last night on Sky Sport Italia when suggesting Inter striker Sebastiano Esposito should not follow the example set by Zaniolo, a comment that infuriated the player’s mother.

“Zaniolo has always delivered and for a year now has been a protagonist in the squad. He has always done what was asked of him, both on the field and off, while we renewed his contract.

“With all due respect to Mr Capello, who made football history also with Roma, it was a real slip-up. We are receiving so much from Nicolò and there was no need to consider him outside of the rules or the profession.”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *